Page 69 of Their Forever Daddy

The trip to the donut shop—and deep into her Little space—helped calm her nerves considerably. Up until Daddy announced they were on their way back to Edie’s house.

“Maybe we should give them more time. Oh, look, a park!” Hoping to distract him, Jesse tugged on his sleeve and pointed out the window as they passed a nearly empty playground. “Can we go play, Daddy, please?”

“Why don’t we come back later with Edie? I’m sure she’d be sad if we went to the park without her.”

Jesse didn’t actually think Edie would be all that sad. It wasn’t like she was ready for them to be seen in public together anyway, and she certainly wasn’t ready to be seen in public with ‘Little’ Jesse.

Which, if she was being honest, Jesse wasn’t really ready for, either. It was different back in California, where everyone was just living their best life and—mostly—not judging anyone for living theirs. Where nobody looked at her tutu weird, the way the lady in the donut shop had.

If Edie insisted on staying in South Carolina, it was going to be a pretty big adjustment. For all of them.

Slouching in her seat, Jesse crossed her arms and glared out the window. She could feel Daddy’s gaze on her cheek, a moment before she heard him sigh.

“Talk to me, little outlaw. Tell Daddy what’s bothering you.”

“Nothin’.”

“Oh. Huh. Must be some other Little girl pouting in my passenger seat. My bad.”

Jesse scrunched her nose up to keep her lips from twitching with laughter. “Must be. Cuz I’m fine.”

“Well, maybe that other Little girl could talk to me. It might make her feel better to tell someone what’s making her so sad.”

It was silly, and it made her feel slightly ridiculous, but talking about her problems as though they belonged to someone else was always a little easier. “She’s just worried.”

“What’s she worried about?”

Even with the third person trick, Jesse had to force the words out. “She’s worried that her friend’s friends won’t like her. And if they don’t like her, then maybe her friend will decide she doesn’t wanna be her friend anymore, either.”

“That’s a big worry. I guess that friend must be kind of a pushover, if she lets her friends tell her who she should be friends with.”

Outrage had Jesse sitting up straight and glaring at him. “She’s not a pushover! She’s strong and bossy and perfect.”

“Well, a strong, bossy, perfect friend shouldn’t have any problem telling people that it’s her business who she wants to be friends with and if they have a problem with it maybe they aren’t really her friends after all.”

“Oh. I—I mean, the other Little—didn’t think of it that way.”

“Mmhmm.” Reaching over, he ran his hand over her hair. “Sometimes we have to remember our friends are stronger than we give them credit for. Do you think that other Little is ready to go see her friend now?”

There were more layers to it than that. Messy, complicated layers. But at the end of the day, it really did boil down to trusting Edie to take care of her, the way she trusted her Daddy to take care of her.

“Yeah. I think she’s ready.”

Jesse

* * *

Laughter greeted them the moment they walked in the door, unraveling a few more of the knots in Jesse’s tummy. Still, she hesitated just outside the living room.

Maybe she should just go upstairs. Even if Edie’s friends didn’t hate her anymore, it didn’t mean they wanted her crashing their party.

But then Edie looked up, a wide smile spreading across her face, and crooked a finger in that ‘Come here, Little girl’ motion that never failed to make Jesse’s knees weak.

The gesture had four other heads swiveling her direction. Dragging in a deep breath, she gathered her courage and stepped into the living room.

After that first step, the rest came a little easier, until she was standing in front of the giant armchair Edie was seated in, painfully aware of all the eyes watching and waiting to see what she would do next.

Luckily for her, she didn’t have to actually decide what to do. Edie simply reached up and grabbed her arm, pulling her down into the chair with her. It was a tight fit, and she ended up halfway in Edie’s lap, but in that moment, there was nowhere else she’d rather be.

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